Holiday Over, Some Already Recycling Christmas Trees

Christmas is barely over. The living room cleared of gift wrappings, Now comes the next chore--the tree, taking it down and getting rid of it.

While many leave the tree up for a week or so, clinging to the holiday spirit, others are moving on.

With that green tree rapidly drying out, leaving needles on the carpet and becoming a fire hazard, the question becomes what comes next.

For the past 22 years, the responsible answer has been to recycle through a program sponsored by NV Energy and coordinated by Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful.

Trees taken to their pick up locations don't end up in the landfill, they are chipped, ground into mulch and used in area parks.

Wednesday, the program was up and operating in three different locations Bartley Ranch, Rancho San Rafael and the Shadow Mountain Sports Complex in Sparks.

The locations are manned by volunteers, many of them from the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

Some have been doing this for years.

"We're trying to keep things green," says volunteer and Girl Scout leader Kristen DeHaan, "We've enjoyed coming for this for the past seven years since my girls were in the First Grade to recycle the Christmas trees. It's really fun."

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